MTG Hawke’s Bay Tai Ahuriri is an award winning museum in Napier, New Zealand and is home of the region’s taonga and other treasures. Known for their varied and educational exhibitions that bring history and art to life for all ages. The museum sought to add interactive digital elements to the visitor experience to encourage deeper engagement and learning.
The Challenge: MTG Hawke’s Bay needed customisable, user friendly, interactive digital experiences to support their exhibitions. They wanted to create memorable, educational touchpoints for all audiences, especially their younger visitors, in a museum environment.
The Solution: POPcomms enables MTG Hawke’s Bay to create multiple interactive touchscreen experiences. The museum team can now tailor each exhibit to the specific theme and learning outcomes. The platform’s flexibility allows MTG to create engaging and immersive touchscreen displays to encourage hands-on exploration, instantly grabbing visitor attention.
Results: The museum has seen a significant uplift in positive engagement and enthusiasm from visitors, with the interactive elements being well received by all ages, making for a much richer and educational experience.
The most recent exhibition being their ‘Eye Spy: Curious Stories’, bringing together some weird and wonderful objects with a focus on geographical areas tied to Maori history and folklore. The Maori people are indigenous to New Zealand, with their rich and fascinating cultural history spanning over a thousand years, they play a crucial role in shaping New Zealand’s national identity in language and culture.
With POPcomms-powered digital screens, visitors can now take a deep dive into objects and their captivating stories, they are taken on an interactive voyage of discovery which has been designed to spark curiosity for all ages. The touchscreens complement an array of sensory experiences from lift and learn to immersive scents and sounds.
Visitors are encouraged to ‘come along and peek, look, touch, sniff and listen to ‘spy’ every inch of these wonderful things, and uncover and discover a world of curious stories contained in ornamentation’.
We caught up with Abie Collins, an Exhibition Designer at the prestigious MTG Hawke’s Bay Museum about getting the most out of POP’s interactive design technology
What led you to try out POPcomms? What problem were you trying to solve?
“We were looking for a solution to enhance our exhibition experiences with custom interactive elements. Our goal was to create more engaging, educational touchpoints for visitors. POPcomms allowed us to bring these concepts to life with a level of customization that other platforms didn’t offer.”
What changed to make solving this problem a priority?
“We had a need to modernize our exhibitions and provide interactive experiences that appeal to a wide age range, particularly younger audiences. Enhancing visitor engagement has always been a priority, and we wanted to ensure that our exhibitions were both informative and immersive.”
How has POPcomms made a difference in your business? Any standout moments or successes?
“While we don’t have specific metrics, the interactive experiences have been well received and enhanced the exhibitions they were featured in. Visitors have engaged positively with the content, which has helped us meet our goals in terms of educating and engaging our community.”
What’s your favorite thing about using our platform? Any standout features?
“The customization options stand out the most, as we want each of our experiences to be unique. It’s also very user-friendly, which has made it easier for our team to manage the exhibits.”
What would you say to other businesses looking to get started with POPcomms?
“We chose POPcomms over other platforms because it catered better to the specific needs of our exhibitions, where a more tailored approach was necessary.”
Conclusion: POPcomms has empowered MTG Hawke’s Bay to create more engaging, customized exhibition experiences. The positive feedback from visitors underscores the platform’s value in helping the museum fulfil its mission to educate and inspire through interactive learning. If you are interested in learning more or want to WOW more customers at your exhibitions or upcoming events, click the ‘Book a Demo’ button today.
